Type casting matrix



June 27, 1939. w. QUADT TYPE CASTING MATRIX Filed April 20, 1938 "a INVENTOR (/OH/V W. QUAD r.

Patented June 27, 1939 UNITED STATES 2,163,854 TYPE. CASTING MATRIX John W. Quadt, Queens Village, N. Y., assignor to Mergenthaler Linotype Company, a corporation of New York Application April 20, 1938, Serial No, 203,074

13 Claims.

This invention relates to type casting matrices, such as are used in the commercial Linotype machine, consisting of rectangular plates containing in their casting edges formative cavities or intaglio characters from which the type characters are produced. More particularly, it relates to matrices formed with two or more superposed characters, any selected one of which may be brought into action by the longitudinal adjustment of the matrices or by supporting them at different levels in the composed line.

In the manufacture of matrices, it is the practice to rout out a portion of their operative or casting edges, or more specifically, to cut transverse notches or recesses therein and then to punch the matrix characters in the bottoms of such notches. The matrix bodies are of stand ard form and dimensions and are commonly provided with characters ranging from 5 pt. to a maximum of 14 pt. It necessarily follows that the notches will approach nearer and nearer to each other as the point size of the characters they are to contain is increased; and since a dividing wall between the routing notches of an established minimum thickness must be preserved, it also follows that both the maximum height of the routing notches and the point size of the characters contained therein are thereby limited. In recent years, there has been an increasing demand forlarger faces and, in attempting to meet this demand, insofar as two-letter matrices are concerned, many serious difliculties have presented themselves. Thus, the distance between the top of the lower character to the top of the upper character (characters inverted) of a standard two-letter matrix is the same throughout the various fonts and, in order to increase this distance for characters above 14 pt., without disturbing the location of the upper character so that the latter character may still register as usual with the mold slot, it is necessary to utilize part of the regular space between the lower projecting ear and the top of the lower character. Ordinarily, the space between the lower projecting ear and the routing notch for the lower character is seven thirty-seconds of an inch, and it has been found that this space may be reduced to three thirty-seconds of an inch, thereby giving four thirty-seconds of an inch additional character space. Thisv means that when such additional character space is fully utilized, the matrices will have to be supported in the first elevator at four thirty-seconds of an inch above the normal upper level and the upper aligning rib on the mold which is engaged by the lower ear on the matrix will have to be reduced proportionately in thickness, all as more fully shown and described in United States Letters Patent No. 2,095,000 to Richard R. Mead.

While the invention set forth in the Mead patent referred to was intended to adapt the matrices for bearing characters up to a maximum size of 24 pt., it was found that not enough space could be provided for the formation of 24 pt. 10 lower case descender characters, and, consequently, it was necessary to dwarf the descender portions of the characters, i. e., crowd the descender portions toward the body portions of the characters. Obviously, such dwarfing of the de- 15 scender characters of a size as large as 24 pt. constituted a visible abnormality in print which was undesirable and, therefore, printers have been reluctant to adopt the 24 pt. size matrices, doing so only to avoid the necessity of extensive alteration of the machine parts to provide for a special alignment merely for matrices bearing true form characters of that particular point size.

It is the object of the present invention to overcome the difficulties mentioned and provide on the standard matrix bodies true form characters of 24 pt. size, and yet avoid cutting away the dividing wall between the routing notches beyond the established minimum thickness or interfering with the alignment of the matrix with a mold as heretofore adapted for use with the large point size character matrices. To this end, routing notches are formed in the matrix such that one of the characters is at least of greater height than its respective routing notch, i. e., the character extends throughout the height of the notch and beyond one end thereof. More specifically, the routing notches formed in the matrix are of unequal height, one being sufficiently long to accommodate its character in the normal way, and the other being shorter so that its character is formed partly in the routing notch and partly in the dividing wall between the notches.

In the accompanying drawing, the invention has been shown merely by way of example and in preferred form and obviously many variations and modifications may be made therein which will still be comprised within its spirit. Itis to be understood, therefore, that the invention is not limited to any specific form or embodiment except insofar as such limitations are specified in the appended claims.

} Referring to the drawing: 55

Figs. 1 and 2 are comparative views, showing old and new forms of matrices, respectively;

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation, showing a matrix in casting relation to a mold;

Fig. 4 is a perspective of the new form of matrix bearing a character having an ascender; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective of the new form of matrix bearing a character having a descender.

The three matrices shown in Fig. 1 are formed in their operative or casting edges each with two superposed routing notches A and A extending v entirely therethrough from one side to the other and separated by an intermediate wall A As usual, each upper routing notch A contains a roman face and each lower notch A a corresponding italic face, the characters being inverted and punched with reference to constant or datum lines P, Q, as is customary. In the present instance, the lower case letters 1 and 3' have been selected as illustrating characters with ascenders and descen-ders, respectively, (although the dot over the j is in the nature of an ascender or accent so that a routing notch of maximum size is required), while the lower case letter n illustrates a plain character having neither an ascender nor a descender, and the characters are of a point size such that each may be wholly contained in its respective routing notch in the normal way.

It will be noted that the matrix A bearing the plain character n is formed with relatively short routing notches A and A that the matrix A bearing the ascender character 1 is formed with somewhat longer routing notches A and A and that the matrix bearing the descender character j is formed with routing notches A and A of maximum length or height. Considered in a different aspect, the dividing wall A between the routing notches A and A is of maximum thickness on the matrix A bearing the character n, somewhat thinner on the matrix A bearing the character 1 (the length of the routing notch A being increased by cutting away the dividing wall for the ascending portion of the character l), and reduced to the established minimum thickness on the matrix A bearing the charact j.

According to the present invention, as shown in Figs. 2 to 5, the matrices B are formed with 24 pt. characters, the normal increase in point size being indicated by the distances between the dot and dash lines XY and X --Y in Fig. 2. While this increase in point size applies to all three of the matrices B, the one bearing the roman and italic characters n presents no such problem as exists with the other two matrices bearing ascender and descender characters, since the characters of the n matrix may be contained wholly within the routing notches B B in the normal way and still leave a relatively thick dividing wall B A study of Fig. 2, however, shows that it would be impossible to form routing notches on the standard matrix body to contain in their entirety descender characters of 24 pt. size, since the bevelled wall of the routing notch would in such case extend upwardly from the foot of the character j (or above the dot and dash line Y) and reduce the dividing wall 13 to such extent that it would be almost, if not wholly, non-existent.

Therefore, in carrying out the present invention, and speaking now of the middle matrix bearing the descender character fj, the upper routing notch B for the roman face is formed long enough to accommodate the character in its entirety (being extended nearer to the top of the matrix as compared with the routing notch A of the corresponding matrix A); and, in order to provide a dividing wall B of sufficient thickness, the lower routing notch B for the italic face is made relatively short and the character is punched partly in the bottom of the notch and partly in the dividing wall B In the present instance, a long sloping wall B is formed at the upper end of the routing notch B to cut away a great part of the outer surface of the matrix and rnder'it possible to punch a sharply defined character without damage to the dividing wall and without producing fins which require a subsequent trimming operation.

Referring next to those matrices B bearing ascender characters, it is preferable (and the same is true of upper case characters) to proceed in like manner, but, as shown by the first matrix B bearing the ascender character I, the lower routing notch 13 for the italic face is formed to accommodate the character in its entirety and the upper routing notch B for the roman face is made relatively short, having the character punched partly in the bottom of the notch and partly in the dividing wall B Although a relatively wide dividing wall would remain if both routing notches were formed long enough to contain the entire characters, nevertheless the notch B would extend to the point indicated by the arrow Z, and there might not be sufficient overlapping of the dividing wall B of ascender character matrices with the body portions of adjacent descender character matrices to prevent communication between the routing notches of the adjacent matrices.

Fig. 3 shows the alignment of one of the im proved matrices B with a mold C, the matrix being presented to the face of the mold with the upper aligning surface B of the lower ear B in engagement with the under surface C of the mold lip C As shown, the character contained in the lower routing notch B is in alignment with the mold, the lower wall B of the routing notch (formed with respect to the constant line P) registering with the bottom or constant surface C of the mold C, and the dividing wall B being in sealing engagement with the front face of the adjustable mold cap C When the upper character contained in the routing notch B is to be aligned with the mold, the matrix will be presented thereto with the upper aligning surface B of the ear B in engagement with the under surface C of a second lip C formed on the front face of the mold. With the matrix thus presented to the mold, the lower wall B of the routing notch B (formed with respect to the constant line Q) will register with the bottom surface C of the mold C, and the surface B of the matrix will: be in sealing engagement with the front face of the mold cap C As shown in Fig. 3, when a cast is made, the portion of the matrix character punched in the bottom of the routing notch B will be cast On a pedestal formed on the slug body by the routing notch B while the portion of the matrix character punched in the dividing wall 13 will be cast directly on the slug body. The type character thus stands at normal type height throughout its full extent and the slug may be used in the regular way.

It will now be clear that according to the present invention undistorted 24 pt. characters may be punched on the standard two-letter matrix body without decreasing the dividing Wall between the routing notches below the established minimum thickness. Actually, the dividing wall is thicker than the established minimum even for characters normally requiring routing notches of maximum height. Moreover, the mold and the alignment of the matrices with the mold are the same as previously designed for matrices bearing characters of increased point size but to which matrices bearing true form characters above 18 pt. have never been adaptable.

Having thus described by invention, what I claim is:

1. A matrix for slug casting machines, comprising a body portion formed on its casting edge with a routing notch and with a formative cavity or character located partly within the routing notch and partly in the casting edge immediately beyond the routing notch.

2. A matrix for slug casting machines, comprising a body portion formed on its casting edge with a routing notch and with a formative cavity or character extending throughout the height of the routing notch and beyond one end thereof.

3. A matrix for slug casting machines, comprising a body portion formed on its casting edge with a plurality of superposed routing notches and with formative cavities or characters, one of said cavities being located wholly within one routing notch, and the other cavity being located partly within and partly without the other routing notch.

4. A matrix for slug casting machines, com prising a body portion formed on its casting edge with a plurality of superposed routing notches and with formative cavities or characters, one of said cavities being located wholly within one routingnotch, and the other cavity extending throughout the height of the other routing notch and beyond one end thereof.

5. A matrix for slug casting machines, comprising a body portion formed on its casting edge with a plurality of superposed routing notches and with ascender characters associated therewith, one of said characters being located wholly within one routing notch, and the other character being located partly within and partly without the other routing notch.

6. A matrix for slug casting machines, comprising a body portion formed on its casting edge with a plurality of superposed routing notches and with ascender characters associated therewith, one of said characters being located wholly within one routing notch, and the other character extending throughout the height of the other routing notch and beyond one end thereof.

'7. A matrix for slug casting machines, comprising a body portion formed on its casting edge with a plurality of superposed routing notches and with descender characters associated therewith, one of said characters being located wholly within one routing notch, and the other character being located partly within and partly without the other routing notch.

8. A matrix for slug casting machines, comprising a body portion formed on its casting edge with a plurality of superposed routing notches and with descender characters associated therewith,

one of said characters being located wholly within one routing notch, and the other character ex tending throughout the height of the other routing notch and beyond one end thereof.

9. A matrix according to claim 5, wherein the routing notch having the formative cavity located partly within it and partly without it occupies either an upper or a lower position on the matrix body accordingly as the cavity represents an ascender character or a descender character, respectively.

10. A matrix for slug casting machines, comprising a body portion formed on its casting edge with an upper and a lower routing notch separated by a dividing wall and with formative cavities or characters punched into the bottoms of the routing notches, at least one of said formative cavities extending beyond its routing notch and into the dividing wall.

11. A matrix for slug casting machines, comprising a body portion formed on its casting edge with an upper and a lower routing notch separated by a dividing wall and with formative cavities or characters punched into the bottoms of the routing notches, at least one of said formative cavities being coextensive with its routing notch and wholly contained therein, and the other cavity being of greater height than its routing notch and formed partly within the routing notch and partly in the dividing wall.

12. A matrix for slug casting machines, comprising a body portion formed on its casting edge with an upper and a lower routing notch separated by a dividing wall and with ascender characters punched in the bottoms of the routing notches, the character associated with the lower routing notch being coextensive therewith and wholly contained therein and the other character being of greater height than the upper routing notch and unched partly therein and partly in the dividing wall.

13. A matrix for slug casting machines, comprising a body portion formed on its casting edge with a lower and an upper routing notch separated by a dividing wall and with descender characters punched in the bottoms of the routing notches, the character associated with the upper routing notch being coextensive therewith and wholly contained therein and the other character being of greater height than the lower routing notch and punched partly therein and partly in the dividing wall.

JOHN W. QUADT. 

